The site allows small investors to pool their dollars and help a specific local company expand, and add jobs.

Jack Gilbert, CEO of Gringo Jack's Restaurant of Manchester, said Thursday he's turning to the site to raise capital.

His kitchen was already making a line of all-natural Mexican salsas, sauces and chips sold on some area grocery shelves, including Healthy Living in South Burlington.

Now, Gilbert hopes to raise $250,000 in new capital by the end of 2016 to begin to expand his sales force and production facility in Sunderland, Vermont.

"Here's a restaurant that's been around 20 years, has a loyal following, and has a product that's tangible," said Janice Shade, of Milk Money VT. "People can say, 'I invested in this company,' can see the product on the shelves and feel like they're a part of it."

The Vermont investor concept was used successfully by two Burlington hippies in 1984 to finance their new Waterbury factory for the now-iconic Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's.

"We got a great response," remembers former Ben & Jerry's CEO Chico Lager. "The smart money said we were nuts to try and raise money in $126 increments but over two months we raised three-quarters of a million dollars, from 1,800 Vermont households."

This time, Gilbert has set a $1,000 minimum investment, and acknowledges the risk.

"This is what you should think of as your Vegas money," he said. "You're putting money into a small company that could at anytime implode."

He noted, however, a series of Vermont entrepreneurial success stories, too.

The Milk Money VT website is regulated by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, and open only to individual Vermont investors.

Gringo Jack's was the second start-up to utilize the platform since its launch earlier this year.